Woke up to all four boxes updated from 4.1.0_7 to 5.0.0_6. No discernible differences on the face of things.

Only update issue was that the 8640 did not re-establish connection to the SDV server after the update (confirmed in diagnostics) and needed to be rebooted, after which the connection to the SDV server was restored almost instantly. Before I rebooted, most SDV channels (which is just about all of them here) were off-line except those in the carousel, despite having been running post-update for almost three hours. The two 3260s and the 4250 had updated and reconnected to SDV server with no issues.

When I turned on the bedroom 8642 this morning it came up on channel 1, always a sign that something was updated.

Just switched from Dish Network back to TWC, hadn't planned on keeping cable for anything but Internet, but they offered me that WinBack promo to switch from Dish. I got Triple play plus HD DVR and HD Box for $79.99 a month for 2 years. I upgraded to Road Runner Extreme for $20 extra, so my total is $99.99/month. They even waived all installation fees, couldn't pass that up! Been a while since I've had TWC, but the compression is up and the boxes are still slow. But I love my 30Mbps internet They had to come to my house twice, the first time they didn't have enough fittings, but they were 2hrs late both times so I got two $20 On Time Guarantee credits.

Just switched from Dish Network back to TWC, hadn't planned on keeping cable for anything but Internet, but they offered me that WinBack promo to switch from Dish. I got Triple play plus HD DVR and HD Box for $79.99 a month for 2 years. I upgraded to Road Runner Extreme for $20 extra, so my total is $99.99/month. They even waived all installation fees, couldn't pass that up! Been a while since I've had TWC, but the compression is up and the boxes are still slow. But I love my 30Mbps internet They had to come to my house twice, the first time they didn't have enough fittings, but they were 2hrs late both times so I got two $20 On Time Guarantee credits.

How long were you on Dish? I am paying $225 and in this economy I can't justify it. Just wondering how long I would have to be on Dish before I could qualify for the WinBack?

How long were you on Dish? I am paying $225 and in this economy I can't justify it. Just wondering how long I would have to be on Dish before I could qualify for the WinBack?

I'm doing 2 year flip flops between Dish, DirecTV and TWC. Also, my bill generated today, they actually got it right! I was so worried about them fudging it up. By the looks of the way they billed it you could have just one box on the deal for $67.71, but I don't know how that works, I'm happy with the deal I got.

I think my neighbor does this switch as well. It seems like I see a different vendor in his drive way everyday.

My wife would never let us go back to Sat so I am stuck with cable.

Right now we only have one problem. Our recordings end about 1 to 2 minutes early. If I tell it to record over by 5 minutes it causes a conflict if the next hour has both tuners tied up. What can we do to fix this? We end up watching the end of shows at the start of another show. If nothing is recording in the next hour we miss the last few minutes of a favorite show.

So Clear QAM would be gone and everyone would need a set-top box? If that's the case, it might just be the final straw that makes me cancel my cable service completely and invest in a good antenna.

There essentially is no ClearQAM now except for broadcast channels - that is unlikely to change. It's the analogs that would be gone.

I do, however, agree with your conclusion... forcing STBs for secondary outlets will negate one of the competitive advantages cable has historically held over other multichannel providers. With that edge gone, it's sure not the picture quality that will keep subs in the cable fold, at least not what it's degraded to here in Charlotte over the past 9 months or so.

Every day it seems to get easier and easier for me to realistically consider jumping to DirecTV after having Vision Cable/TWC service since 1977. The biggest obstacle is no longer TV-related... it's high-speed internet service... and I think TWC is aware of that "edge" and is counting on it.

There essentially is no ClearQAM now except for broadcast channels - that is unlikely to change. It's the analogs that would be gone.

I do, however, agree with your conclusion... forcing STBs for secondary outlets will negate one of the competitive advantages cable has historically held over other multichannel providers. With that edge gone, it's sure not the picture quality that will keep subs in the cable fold, at least not what it's degraded to here in Charlotte over the past 9 months or so.

Every day it seems to get easier and easier for me to realistically consider jumping to DirecTV after having Vision Cable/TWC service since 1977. The biggest obstacle is no longer TV-related... it's high-speed internet service... and I think TWC is aware of that "edge" and is counting on it.

Has the PQ really gotten that bad?

As far as TWC counting on HSD to save their hides, I think, by the numbers, they see people leaving video and keeping internet. I'd have to go pull the numbers, but the last report I saw on Broadbandreports.com was that it is pretty obvious what some people are doing now.

Until such time as the cable operators in general give up on analog, increase their plants to +1GHz, kill SDV, and embrace MPEG4 things won't get better. But they won't do those things. Because it costs too much money. Well, except for perhaps getting rid of analog. That'll save them money.

As far as TWC counting on HSD to save their hides, I think, by the numbers, they see people leaving video and keeping internet. I'd have to go pull the numbers, but the last report I saw on Broadbandreports.com was that it is pretty obvious what some people are doing now.

Until such time as the cable operators in general give up on analog, increase their plants to +1GHz, kill SDV, and embrace MPEG4 things won't get better. But they won't do those things. Because it costs too much money. Well, except for perhaps getting rid of analog. That'll save them money.

It is as far as I'm concerned... but I may be more sensitive/critical than the average customer is. I know this because I will make note of things I see and other folks I'm with will not have noticed them previously (but do see them once I point them out).

By far, WTVI is the worst (as bad or worse than WBTV was earlier this year before they fixed it), but WCCB, Showtime, WSOC, Discovery and a few others are particularly bad. I see artifacts on virtually every camera pan or scene cut - hell, even fades to black block up much of the time. On WTVI and WCCB (worse on WTVI), I can see relatively static shots start to block up until the next full frame is transmitted... ends up looking like the picture is pulsing. I see it on all of my TVs, with or without STBs, and I see it at friends houses throughout Charlotte. I have good signal level and S/N, and bit error counts as reported in the STB diagnostics are virtually always zero. It is bit-starvation introduced at the headend, pure and simple... and it was not happening to anywhere near this extent prior to the beginning of this year.

I still record my full complement of series as a backup, but I watch what I can "On-Demand" because the compression artifacts are better there than it is on the regular channel. Hell... Hulu+ 720P streaming has less compression artifacts than the above channels have.

Regarding your comment about killing SDV... SDV has no direct effect on PQ - bit rate allocations and clamping points can be set for those just as they can on a linear channel. All else being equal, SDV should, in fact, help PQ because even the low bit-rate allocations we have now would not be possible if all channels were running concurrently. For sure SDV can introduce command and control issues (which I, for one, virtually never see), but whether a channel is delivered on a linear or switched basis has no direct connection to PQ.

It is as far as I'm concerned... but WCCB, Showtime, WSOC, Discovery and a few others are particularly bad. .

I have complained quite often and loudly about the quality on WCCB on TWC..tho it has gotten better of late..it still is NOT where I think it should be.

Also.. be advised..performing software and firmware updates in our +60 encoders and +20 multiplexors for our 7 stations that are controlled out of here in the next few days..so you may see a disruption or two with WCCB..

Bob

The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, MeTv, or AntennaTv; my employer; or its parent company.
Nor my wife for that matter!

It is as far as I'm concerned... but I may be more sensitive/critical than the average customer is. I know this because I will make note of things I see and other folks I'm with will not have noticed them previously (but do see them once I point them out).

By far, WTVI is the worst (as bad or worse than WBTV was earlier this year before they fixed it), but WCCB, Showtime, WSOC, Discovery and a few others are particularly bad. I see artifacts on virtually every camera pan or scene cut - hell, even fades to black block up much of the time. On WTVI and WCCB (worse on WTVI), I can see relatively static shots start to block up until the next full frame is transmitted... ends up looking like the picture is pulsing. I see it on all of my TVs, with or without STBs, and I see it at friends houses throughout Charlotte. I have good signal level and S/N, and bit error counts as reported in the STB diagnostics are virtually always zero. It is bit-starvation introduced at the headend, pure and simple... and it was not happening to anywhere near this extent prior to the beginning of this year.

I still record my full complement of series as a backup, but I watch what I can "On-Demand" because the compression artifacts are better there than it is on the regular channel. Hell... Hulu+ 720P streaming has less compression artifacts than the above channels have.

Regarding your comment about killing SDV... SDV has no direct effect on PQ - bit rate allocations and clamping points can be set for those just as they can on a linear channel. All else being equal, SDV should, in fact, help PQ because even the low bit-rate allocations we have now would not be possible if all channels were running concurrently. For sure SDV can introduce command and control issues (which I, for one, virtually never see), but whether a channel is delivered on a linear or switched basis has no direct connection to PQ.

In regard to SDV I will respond to yes and no in regard to picture quality. Let's talk some basic math here. 90+ HDTV channels and 200+ SDTV channels into 20 SDV channels= a tuner count per sub of X amount service groups.

A DVR counts as 2-tuners and if you go on the low side of how many tuners in a service group, it could be acceptable in terms of picture quality. Go on the Accounting side of how tuners in a service group you can push to, not so good picture quality.

Also keep in mind that Edge QAM's cost $$ and that is how SDV is distributed. Depending on the manufacture and cost it will determine how a SDV service group is built in a Head-End/Hub site.

Everything in theory on this forum sounds good, until the math is layed out on paper it all falls apart with some simple calculations.

In regard to SDV I will respond to yes and no in regard to picture quality. Let's talk some basic math here. 90+ HDTV channels and 200+ SDTV channels into 20 SDV channels= a tuner count per sub of X amount service groups.

A DVR counts as 2-tuners and if you go on the low side of how many tuners in a service group, it could be acceptable in terms of picture quality. Go on the Accounting side of how tuners in a service group you can push to, not so good picture quality.

Also keep in mind that Edge QAM's cost $$ and that is how SDV is distributed. Depending on the manufacture and cost it will determine how a SDV service group is built in a Head-End/Hub site.

Everything in theory on this forum sounds good, until the math is layed out on paper it all falls apart with some simple calculations.

Rob

Agree... but... bit rates assigned are still an operators choice to be made regardless of whether its SDV or not.

My biggest complaint with WCCB is overscan. I turn overscan off on my TV (primarily for BluRay). Since all my video sources are connected to my AVR, I have only 1 HDMI input to the TV. So I can't control it by input. Usually the overscan shows up on 4x3 commercials but lately it been showing on 16x9 non-commerials HD content.

In regard to SDV I will respond to yes and no in regard to picture quality. Let's talk some basic math here. 90+ HDTV channels and 200+ SDTV channels into 20 SDV channels= a tuner count per sub of X amount service groups.

A DVR counts as 2-tuners and if you go on the low side of how many tuners in a service group, it could be acceptable in terms of picture quality. Go on the Accounting side of how tuners in a service group you can push to, not so good picture quality.

Also keep in mind that Edge QAM's cost $$ and that is how SDV is distributed. Depending on the manufacture and cost it will determine how a SDV service group is built in a Head-End/Hub site.

Everything in theory on this forum sounds good, until the math is layed out on paper it all falls apart with some simple calculations.

Rob

Also doesn't cable plant design factor into how the SDV service groups go such as when was the system upgraded to 750MHz/860MHz and how many amps you have after the node such as node+2 or node+6 also does the amount of QAM space go into how many SDV QAMs there are going to be for instance in my TWC system they recently (in october) have added another 8 SDV QAMs to the 16 SDV QAMs that were activated when SDV launched. Here they rebuilt the system from 750MHz to 860MHz in 2008 which means were likely node+2 or node+3. I do know that there a lot NC4000SG Aurora 1GHz nodes deployed here where motorola amps used to be in addition to a lot of SG2000 860MHz motorola nodes.

TWC North Texas right now has 125 HD channels and will have 134 HD channels when the above mentioned channels are added.

also SDV does not mean infinite channel adds. there is probrably a limit as to how many channels can be switched and not have have a tuning failure before there has to be more channels moved into the SDV pool to dedicate more QAMs to SDV and this probrably varies by market.

TWC here in Charlotte pushed an MDN update out a few days ago. At first, it looked pretty innocuous - some cosmetic changes to the delete/save banner. Then I noticed the biggie:

1 hour buffers on the two tuners have been cut in half to 30 minutes.

We've been gradually losing DVR functionality over the years. The buffers used to honor a pause if you swapped between them. That was sweet - you could watch 2 programs essentially at once. When one of them went to commercial, you could hit pause, then switch to the other tuner and watch that channel until it went to commercial. You could then swap back to the first one and it would still be paused at the point you left, enabling you to pick up from that point. You could then swap back and forth at will. Now the buffers reset every time you change channels or swap tuners. That was bad enough.

Then they mirrored the "jump-back" feature on the FF button, where it actually is useful, to the REW button causing it to "jump-forward", which usually necessitates another couple of button presses to get back to the point you're trying to rewind to. People don't use a DVR that way and indeed, no other provider's DVR works that way. Many of us have complained about that for years, yet they continue to link FF and REW in this inconvenient manner.

But this is far worse. Cutting the buffers in half? Why?? My SA8300HD worked fine with an hour buffer. I can see no advantage to TWC for reducing its functionality in this manner.

I was surprised to pop in here this morning and not see any mention of this. Has anyone else noticed it? Did they cripple the ODN platform's buffers as well?

Then they mirrored the "jump-back" feature on the FF button, where it actually is useful, to the REW button causing it to "jump-forward", which usually necessitates another couple of button presses to get back to the point you're trying to rewind to. People don't use a DVR that way and indeed, no other provider's DVR works that way.

TiVo's have done this since the inception of the company. It is due to a the reflex time of users hitting the button so it auto corrects. It makes perfect sense to me and i can't imagine using a DVR that doesn't (I wouldn't touch a TW DVR with a ten foot pole so I can't comment on how much it adjusts).

I'm looking to start service with TWC cable (internet + TV) sometime in near future, but I dont want to spend any more then is absolutely necessary

my tv is the Samsung PN50B650 50" plasma which apparently has built in Clear QAM digital tuner. I dont think my TV is CableCard compatible.

My question is this:
-what service do I need to ask for in order to utilize my TV's tuner instead of paying an additional $11/month for HD/Digital set-top box ? If I can utilize my TV tuner and pick up most (if not all) my channels in HD that I would normally get from the set-top, i would much rather go this route and save the money. I dont mind losing features like on-screen guide or Start Over, etc..

- what are other down sides to using built in QAM tuner instead of set-top box?